VEEP NALUMANGO SIDELINED
…as Msoni says it is difficult to work with President Hakainde Hichilema, doubting whether Nalumango is still running mate
By Fox Reporter
ALL Peoples Congress president Nasson Msoni says Zambians should know that working with President Hakainde Hichilema is the most difficult decision in one’s life.
Commenting on the subsequent preference of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Sternly Kakubo attending international summits instead of the Vice-President, Msoni says Vice-President Mutale Nalumango has been sidelined.
Msoni said Vice-President Nalumango is no longer useful to President Hichilema, no wonder she is never seen representing the country at high level meetings such as the UNGA which is taking place in the New York.
He explained that instead President Hichilema has decided to use more of Foreign Affairs Minister Kakubo to represent him while Nalumango parked at parliament to attend to questions.
“There is clearly a problem. He has a track record of failing to work with his Vice Presidents even at party level. Clearly, she has been sidelined and rendered irrelevant in the process. It is just the constitution keeping Mrs Nalumango in office. She had been shunted offline and rendered redundant,” said Msoni.
Msoni observed that the working relationship between Vice -President Nalumango and President Hichilema in the recent past has become weaker and if it were not the constitutional provision of running mate, he could have fired her.
“With my political instincts informs me that the working relationship between the President and his Vice President is not sound. It is clear that her office is being undermined by the kind delegation that the President is making, where she is never considered to represent the Country at such a high-level meeting. I stand to be corrected, Kakubo has done more trips than the Vice President even to the extent of attending meetings supposed to be attended by the Vice-President. But that is how President Hichilema is. He is a difficult person to work with,” he said.
Msoni notes that with the kind of treatment Vice President Nalumango was being subjected to by President Hichilema, it was clear that she has lost favour and would not be running mate in 2026.